The Census Bureau is using open source communities to further its digital development goals, and finding the approach rewarding, said Alec Permison, applications manager for Census.gov.
This year, the agency held a “National Day of Hacking,” during which more than 11,000 developers across the country used Census data to create new online applications that would help solve civic and social problems in local communities, he said, speaking at the third annual Open Source Summit, held at the NYU Washington, D.C., building.